Afraid I won’t enjoy cruise

[Candris79]

I want to try a cruise but am afraid my DD (9) and I won’t enjoy it because there are no rides. We travel to WDW at least once a year and love it because there is so much to do. It would just be the two of us and I was thinking of a 3 or 4 night (just watched Corey and Craig’s recent cruise on the Dream). Any input?

 

[lorimay]

As an addict to Disney cruise line, I can't imagine not enjoying a cruise. It is totally different than the parks for sure.
My children loved DCL as kids and now my daughters 2 kids 7 & 9 love it as well. They would all pick the cruise over the parks for certain.
There is so much to do, she will probably love the kids club. Pools and slides are fun too!
I think a 3 or 4 day cruise is a good way to see if its for you.

Read through some trip reports and look at past navigators to see all there is to do.

Good Luck!

 

[Candris79]

As an addict to Disney cruise line, I can't imagine not enjoying a cruise. It is totally different than the parks for sure.
My children loved DCL as kids and now my daughters 2 kids 7 & 9 love it as well. They would all pick the cruise over the parks for certain.
There is so much to do, she will probably love the kids club. Pools and slides are fun too!
I think a 3 or 4 day cruise is a good way to see if its for you.

Read through some trip reports and look at past navigators to see all there is to do.

Good Luck!

I will do that, thank you!

 

[Otimon]

Take the cruise. You'll both love it!

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

After booking our VeryMerryTime cruise, I watched the promotional DVD with DD5. Her biggest initial takeaway was that there were no rides, and she was sad about that... for about a minute. Then she saw the footage of the fancy food, waterslide, and kids clubs and was excited! Her favorite thing about Disney Parks is actually the characters, so once she realized how many characters she could meet on board, she was also good to go.

On the actual cruise, there were enough family fun activities, character meetings, shows, and kids club events to keep her VERY busy, and I don't think she missed the rides at all.

 

[frannie12]

I would be more afraid you will love it!!

 

[iivye]

I took my daughter on her first Disney cruise at that age and she loved it! Since then we have done 5 more cruises. I must admit though she has always loved the kids clubs so she doesn't spend a lot of time with me on them. My daughter is an only child and I think part of the appeal is being able to spend vacation with other kids her age especially as she has gotten older.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

We are WDW vets who just did our first cruise (and just started a TR for it). We have 3 kids with the oldest being a 9 year old girl

It is very different than going to the parks as it isn’t as much “do this, then go to the next thing, and the next thing” - it’s more just take it easy and see what strikes your fancy as what to do. There are a ton of activities at all hours and the kids clubs are amazing - my kids didn’t want to leave and my oldest was literally in tears when we had to check out of the club for the last time. The food is great and the service on the ships is just incredible

It’s just very different and I am not ready to say we liked the cruise better or anything but we are very glad we did one and will likely do another at some point

 

[msb578]

.

 

[Shanti]

We used to be WDW addicts and now we're Disney cruise addicts. Try a 3-night and see if you like it. You probably really will. There is a lot to do.

But you'll never know if you don't give it a try.

 

[kenthanson]

We just took our first Disney cruise and liked it but didn't love it. We also went with two other families so in total there were 6 kids that all knew each other and go to school together so that was good but if it would have been just my wife and son and I, i think we woukd have gotten sick of spending time together. We took a star wars day at sea cruise and the star wars day which was the Thursday and castaway cay which was the Friday were by far the best two days, bug I also spent the first two days throwing up in bed because of sea sickness.

 

[mernin]

We did our first cruise in Feb 2017. We weren’t sure any of us would like it (well, I thought I would but the rest were big ???). We decided to do a 4 day so we could see what port & sea days were like and tied it in with a few days at the parks before & after. Because it was a short one, if we didn’t like it, it wouldn’t be a whole week wishing to get off. We loved it but the family we travelled with didn’t. I think you kind of have to give it a try to see.

 

[Candris79]

I took my daughter on her first Disney cruise at that age and she loved it! Since then we have done 5 more cruises. I must admit though she has always loved the kids clubs so she doesn't spend a lot of time with me on them. My daughter is an only child and I think part of the appeal is being able to spend vacation with other kids her age especially as she has gotten older.

My daughter is an only child too and I’m not sure she will want to go in there and be without me!

 

[Candris79]

We just took our first Disney cruise and liked it but didn't love it. We also went with two other families so in total there were 6 kids that all knew each other and go to school together so that was good but if it would have been just my wife and son and I, i think we woukd have gotten sick of spending time together. We took a star wars day at sea cruise and the star wars day which was the Thursday and castaway cay which was the Friday were by far the best two days, bug I also spent the first two days throwing up in bed because of sea sickness.

I also think it would be more fun with a group and maybe too boring for just the two of us.

 

[Candris79]

We are WDW vets who just did our first cruise (and just started a TR for it). We have 3 kids with the oldest being a 9 year old girl

It is very different than going to the parks as it isn’t as much “do this, then go to the next thing, and the next thing” - it’s more just take it easy and see what strikes your fancy as what to do. There are a ton of activities at all hours and the kids clubs are amazing - my kids didn’t want to leave and my oldest was literally in tears when we had to check out of the club for the last time. The food is great and the service on the ships is just incredible

It’s just very different and I am not ready to say we liked the cruise better or anything but we are very glad we did one and will likely do another at some point

Honestly I like the regimented schedule of WDW so I feel like I might be bored on a cruise.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Honestly I like the regimented schedule of WDW so I feel like I might be bored on a cruise.

It took me a few days to adjust. Honestly, if they asked me 1/2 way through my thoughts I would say I would never do a cruise again - but I did adjust and the 2nd half was amazing! There is a lot to do - tons of different classes or other things, it's just less like you *have* to do this specific thing now.

... but I did miss my spreadsheets a bit

 

[Shanti]

I also think it would be more fun with a group and maybe too boring for just the two of us.

I actually treasure the mom & son time we get on our cruises. You two might enjoy that more than you expect. There are a lot of activities to choose from, particularly on the Dream class ships. My son has never been bored on a Disney cruise.

 

[dsjerome]

Going on a cruise is definitely different. Our first two were four nights on the Disney Dream (love that ship). I wouldn't worry about not going with more people. This could be a very special mother/daughter time. There are open houses when you first get on board for the kids clubs, so you can both check it out to see if your daughter would like it. Like others mentioned, there are classes/activities to go to, also. The restaurants and food options are super! When you know your itinerary, you can have fun searching the for shore excursions you'd like to do. One year at Nassau, we did the submarine tour (it wasn't that great). The next time we were there, we did the Dolphin Encounter. That was awesome!! For Castaway Cay, we rented bikes and explored the island, swam with the stingrays and enoyed the beach. Next January we're going to be trying a 6 night cruise on Disney Wonder. We're looking forward to a longer trip this time. Hope everything works out for you!

 

[Candris79]

Going on a cruise is definitely different. Our first two were four nights on the Disney Dream (love that ship). I wouldn't worry about not going with more people. This could be a very special mother/daughter time. There are open houses when you first get on board for the kids clubs, so you can both check it out to see if your daughter would like it. Like others mentioned, there are classes/activities to go to, also. The restaurants and food options are super! When you know your itinerary, you can have fun searching the for shore excursions you'd like to do. One year at Nassau, we did the submarine tour (it wasn't that great). The next time we were there, we did the Dolphin Encounter. That was awesome!! For Castaway Cay, we rented bikes and explored the island, swam with the stingrays and enoyed the beach. Next January we're going to be trying a 6 night cruise on Disney Wonder. We're looking forward to a longer trip this time. Hope everything works out for you!

Thank you for the tips!

 

[bbn1122]

It’s a differrent vacation, look at that way. I will tell you it’s much easier to meet the characters and see the princesses.

The shows are fantastic and you can go to Disney movies together. Castaway Cay is so much fun.

I think a 3 or 4 night will be the right length of time.

My family have done several vacations where we are at WDW for 3-4 days and then we take a 3 night cruise. May that is th way to go.

2 of my boys never cared for the clubs, th always found things to do on sea days. They loved going to the movies. They would go in hot tubs, play mini golf, ping pong and shoot some hoops. Plus, being able to eat Ice Cream and Pizza all day is pretty fun!

Good luck deciding.